“If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” — Rabbi Harold Kushner
It is so easy to think of Thanksgiving as a holiday of food. Afterall, there is plenty of it and a lot of permission to eat to our heart’s content. But the holiday is also an extraordinary opportunity to remind ourselves of the blessings we have even when we are hard pressed to find that bounty in our lives.
Finding beauty in the any circumstance can be a test. What is the beauty, we ask, in our mother or friend learning they have cancer? This is not an easy question to answer. In fact, I am at a loss of words. I lost friends to AIDS and cancer. Losing them was not a blessing. Loving them, however, was. We had a lot of laughs and experiences together. They made my life richer for being there. The good was not in losing them. The good was in knowing them.
We can hate the weeds in our garden or the rabbit that continually gnaws at our budding vegetables, but without either we might not see the life that rises beyond the obstacles they present. Thank the weeds and thank the rabbits. They are part of the cycle of life that keeps going in spite of ourselves. Give thanks and keep giving. Love and receive love. You can’t have one without the other.
Happy Thanksgiving from Merlin’s Garden
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